Both standard and high-def version available Nov. 22nd (two weeks after 'The 6th Series, Part 2')

Posted by David Lambert

9/12/2011

Last week the BBC announced the release dates, on DVD and high-def Blu-ray Disc, for both Doctor Who - The 6th Series, Part 2 (available November 8th) and also for the 6-disc releases (on both formats) of Doctor Who - The Complete 6th Series (avaialble two weeks later, on November 22nd). At the time we had an early image of the packaging from The Complete 6th Series, and no information about bonus material other than the word that there will be "hours of extras." Now we've gotten both the box art (see below, along with an Amazon.com button link to pre-order any of these four upcoming items) and word about the special features. Here is a copy-and-paste of the official list that BBC Video provides so far about the extras:

Meanwhile in the Tardis - Seven newly filmed scenes, exclusive to DVD and Blu-ray, telling what happens between the episodes

Doctor Who Confidential - An inside look at each episode

Monster Files - Get under the skin and inside the minds of the new Doctor's most challenging opponents

Audio Commentary

Trailers and Trails

More!

Unfortunately that list doesn't answer all the questions out there which Whovians have had about the bonuses on this set, as a fellow passionate fan of the show, I'm going to attempt to answer some of those questions. Please keep in mind that at this time I do NOT have confirmation of these answers from any official sources, so please take it all with a grain of salt.

Between the airing of the 2010 Christmas special ("A Christmas Carol") and the broadcast debut of Series 6, there were 2 short specials (3 or 4 minutes each) called "Space" and "Time." They were written by showrunner Steve Moffat, and they find the 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory caught up in a recursive loop inside the TARDIS. These mini-episodes aired in March 2011, as part of the "Red Nose Day" charity telethon that the BBC held for Comic Relief. So the question here is, "are those 2 of the 7 'Meanwhile in the Tardis' scenes mentioned in the list above?" Answer: we're not certain if they are part of the count, but thanks to information gleaned from the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification ) website, we're REASONABLY sure that these two mini-episodes will be included on the The Complete 6th Series DVD and Blu-ray sets. Fans (including us) will be pretty upset if they aren't! So far the only clue we have about the 7 new "Meanwhile, In The TARDIS" additional scenes is that the BBFC mentions ratings issued last Thursday to a few items - which may or may not be "Meanwhile" scenes - that are titled "First Night," "Last Night," "Bad Night," "Good Night" and "Up All Night." There's also a mention of a Doctor Who Confidential documentary piece called "The Nights' Tale."

What about Doctor Who Confidential, then? It's confirmed that these are on board, but are they going to be the full "hour-long" episodes as aired on BBC3, or the regular cut-downs. We've verified that these are for-certain going to be the cut-down versions, running no more than 15 minutes apiece...just like on every season set previously released for Doctor Who. We anticipate that this will always be the case in the future as well, honestly.

What about the "prequels"? For Series 6, several episodes (#1, "The Impossible Astronaut"; #3, "The Curse of the Black Spot"; #7, "A Good Man Goes to War"; #8, "Let's Kill Hitler"; possibly more to come) have had web-exclusive "prequel videos," a teaser running less than 2 minutes which isn't necessary for the upcoming episode, but gives fans who caught them online an additional sense (beyond the normal "coming soon" trailer) of what to expect. Yes, we BELIEVE that these prequels will be included on the Complete 6th Series DVDs and Blu-rays.

What about the bonus material from the separate DVD/BD releases of A Christmas Carol, Season 6 Part 1 and Season 6 Part 2? Yes, it's clear from the list above that the "Monster Files" featurettes (The Silence, The Gangers, The Antibodies and The Cybermats) found on the half-season sets will be included on The Complete Series 6 releases. However, we're not convinced that the 2 extras found on A Christmas Carol (the 2010 "Doctor Who at the Proms" concert, and the cut-down Doctor Who Confidential episode about the 2010 Christmas Special) will be found on the new "Complete" release. As we reported last February, the BBC America Shop Blog had a post back then saying "we can confirm (so far) that the much-lauded Christmas Carol special will be included in the deluxe complete series set, though not with all of its extras."

Finally, we know that at least 2 of the episodes will have audio commentary: "The Impossible Astronaut" and "The Doctor's Wife." No word yet on who participates in those two commentaries, and there will probably be other episodes to get a commentary as well. Will they be the same "in-vision"-style commentaries as found on the Series 5 set? We're not sure yet. Will there be video diaries on these releases, or out-takes? Possibly, but right now we haven't seen anything that says there will be. Please keep in mind that the episodes are still airing (3 more to go!), and the home video releases are still yet to be finalized. We'll keep you updated, as further developments occur. Stay tuned!